On May 5, 1842, a catastrophe struck Hamburg:the "Great Fire" destroyed around a quarter of the city and around 20,000 people were left homeless. Traces of it are still visible today.
Around 1 a.m. on May 5, 1842, a night watchman noticed that a fire had broken out in a storage room at Deichstrasse 44 in Hamburg. The fire brigade is quickly alerted, but the flames spread rapidly. In many of the surrounding warehouses, highly flammable goods are stored - wool, alcohol, tallow and flax yarn. It has been very dry for weeks - the wood of the half-timbered houses like tinder. To make matters worse, a fresh wind is heating up the flames and there is only a little water in the tide-dependent canals from which the fire brigade pumps their fire-fighting water. It's low tide and the easterly wind has also pushed the water out of the Elbe.
Flames destroy the Nikolai Quarter in 1842
The fire spread quickly in the densely built-up old town. "To the north, powerful columns of fire whirled up towards the interior of the city, which reddened the entire southern horizon over the already cremated part of the city and spread daylight over the Elbe regions," write the authors of the special issue "Der Hamburger Brand" shortly after the tragedy. On the morning of May 6th, a large part of the Nikolaiviertel is already on fire, and by the evening the Nikolaikirche has been lost. "The hot copper peeled and fell in great flakes; and the famous, beautiful bells (the pride of the whole city), set in motion by the fire, rang suddenly with a loud, irregular chime," writes an eyewitness.
In order to stop the fire, the fire brigade wants to break through the maze of houses, but the Senate initially rejects the blasting. So the fire moves on on May 6th and reaches the old town hall at the Trostbrücke. Now the Senate agrees and has the town hall blown up to clear a path. But the action cannot stop the fire.
Ten men save the new Hamburg Stock Exchange
The Chamber of Commerce is also based in the new stock exchange, which was saved in 1842.The fire is already threatening to engulf the new stock exchange on Adolphsplatz. It was inaugurated only a few months earlier and is the pride of Hamburg's merchants. Many people have taken refuge from the flames in the building because it is built of stone and surrounded by a wide plaza. But the flat copper roof is in danger of melting due to the heat and the embers flying around, and embers fall into the interior through the openings in the roof. The Lieutenant in charge of the Citizens' Guard wants the building evacuated before the flames completely engulf it.
But the Hamburg merchant Theodor Dill does not want to abandon the stock exchange to the flames without a fight:he and nine other volunteers take everything flammable outside and extinguish the source of the fire drop by drop with the little water they can still find. At times the building is surrounded by fire from all sides. After 24 hours, the men hoist a white flag and ring the stock exchange bell:the building is saved.
Flames raged in the Hanseatic city for four days
The courageous action initially went largely unnoticed. The fire is still spreading. On May 7th, despite desperate rescue attempts, the Petrikirche fell victim to the flames. The Binnenalster and Glockengiesserwall are the only natural barriers to stop the fire. Today the street with the name Brandsende marks this place. On the morning of May 8th, the last burning house on Kurzen Mühren street was extinguished. The flames raged in the Hanseatic city for four days.
20,000 Hamburgers become homeless in the "Big Fire"
To this day, the fire is one of the biggest disasters in the history of Hamburg. In total, more than 50 people die in the flames, almost 20,000 become homeless - that corresponds to ten percent of the population at the time. More than 4,000 apartments and warehouses are destroyed, 61 streets, 120 squares, as well as three churches, the town hall, the old stock exchange and the city archive. In total, about a quarter of the entire city burned down. A report for London merchants also lists the goods burned. Among them are 1,200 bales of cotton, 350 bales of twine, 100 slats of wheat, 3,460 packets of tobacco, 1,000 barrels of raisins, 800 barrels of rice. Numerous neighboring countries and business contacts send aid and money:the kings of Denmark, Prussia and Hanover; the free cities of Lübeck and Bremen; the merchants from London and the dukes of Mecklenburg, Brunswick and Oldenburg.
A new inner city is emerging
The people of Hamburg make a virtue of necessity and commission the architects and engineers William Lindley, Alexis de Chateauneuf and Gottfried Semper to rebuild the city centre. The planners have streets straightened and created new architectural attractions such as the Alster arcades and the late classicist buildings on the Kleine Alster and the Inner Alster. They have a decisive influence on today's cityscape.
The Deichstrasse - a relic of "old" Hamburg
Old half-timbered houses can still be admired in Deichstrasse.In Deichstrasse - where the fire broke out in 1842 - there are now some of the few houses in "old" Hamburg. Since the fire started at the north end of the street, the houses to the south were spared the flames. Today the beautiful old half-timbered houses from the early 18th century have been lovingly restored. A bust and a commemorative plaque commemorate the heroic deeds of Theodor Dill, the savior of the stock exchange, who had his office and private residence on Deichstrasse.